


Has Climbed on Protest

by Mara



Category: Kamen Rider Kuuga
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-01-28
Packaged: 2018-09-20 08:48:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9483560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mara/pseuds/Mara
Summary: Ichijou's a lot less sorry about his assignment now.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PockySquirrel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PockySquirrel/gifts).



> For PockySquirrel and for everyone who marched on Jan. 21, 2017.
> 
> This is an AU. Very very AU :)

To sin by silence, when we should protest,  
Makes cowards out of men. The human race  
Has climbed on protest. Had no voice been raised  
Against injustice, ignorance, and lust,  
The inquisition yet would serve the law,  
And guillotines decide our least disputes.  
—From Ella Wheeler Wilcox's "Protest" (1914)

 

Ichijou was grateful that his mother would never find out what he was doing at this moment. Even if some news photographer took a picture of him, a) she rarely read or watched the news and b) he was essentially unrecognizable as a police officer.

It wasn't as if Ichijou had _never_ gone undercover but his superiors had the good sense to know that he simply wasn't cut out for that work and only used him when they had no other choice. Unfortunately, with thousands of women and men flooding the streets of cities around the world to protest the rise of fascism and racism and sexism, the situation qualified as "no other choice."

And so Ichijou, along with pretty much every other member of the police force for kilometers around Tokyo, was dressed in plainclothes and out on the streets of Tokyo marching next to women in pink hats, keeping an eye out for troublemakers. He didn't disagree with the marchers but…this kind of public display made him uncomfortable. Not to mention the fact that even _his_ feet were starting to show the strain of walking and standing and walking.

The crowds were such that someone could be building a bomb a few feet from him and he'd never know. Ichijou squinted as he passed a woman perched in a tree taking pictures of the passersby. Hmm…

A few meters further down, there was a similar tree, with nice sturdy branches and a good view of the crowd. He could rest his feet for a short time and get an overview at the same time. It was a tidy solution, he decided, swimming his way to the outside of the crowd.

It had been a while since had climbed a tree, so he took a moment to consider the best approach. Perhaps if he started at that branch on the—

"Do you need a leg up?" a voice asked from behind him.

Ichijou nearly jumped as he turned toward the grinning man, pointing a thumb at the tree. "Er…"

"I'm happy to help you get up in the tree, if you need help," the man said with no sign of impatience.

"Thank you." Ichijou looked at the tree. "That would be helpful."

With a little jostling, the other man got a grip on his foot and Ichijou got his arms on a solid branch and with some heaving and hoeing, he pulled himself up into a handy niche. It was surprisingly comfortable, he found once he'd shifted around a bit.

He nearly fell, of course, when the other man pulled himself up onto the next branch over. "There's enough tree to share," he said with a bigger grin.

Ichijou nodded.

"I'm Godai," the man said with a little wave. "Godai Yuusuke."

"Ichijou Kaoru," he said, scanning the crowd now that he had the height to do so.

"Are you looking for someone?" Godai asked.

Ichijou shot him a glance. "Not exactly. Just looking."

Godai nodded as if that was actually an answer, then he turned to scanning the crowd as well.

Several chants came and went under them and Ichijou's feet started to feel better. He didn't want to leave his perch, though, which was surprisingly restful, even with a companion.

The leaves above them rustled and Ichijou flinched.

"It's just a squirrel," Godai said, pointing up.

It certainly was, Ichijou found. A brown and white furry face peered down at them from further up the tree, chittering madly at them. Presumably it was annoyed at being disturbed. "Poor squirrel," Ichijou said without thinking. "Although, I suppose the squirrels that live here are used to large groups of people, even protestors."

"That sounds like a children's book: 'A Squirrel at the Protest.'" Godai pondered. "Maybe I'll write it. Then I can read it to my sister's students. She's a teacher."

Ichijou couldn't help but shake his head. 

"I think the squirrel probably ends up dropping nuts on everyone's heads."

"His protest against protests?" Ichijou smiled as he continued to scan the crowd.

"There, I've made you smile, so my work is done."

Ichijou blinked, turning to look at the other man. "…what?"

Laughing, Godai gave him a thumbs-up. "You just looked so solemn and serious, I was hoping to help you lighten up." He went back to scanning the crowd.

"Oh. Um…thank you?" Ichijou wasn't sure what you were supposed to say in a situation like this, but he had to admit that whenever he started to get too serious, the image of a squirrel dropping nuts on the heads of people below them made him want to smile.

"After all, there are plenty of serious issues, but there's no reason not to have some fun as well."

Ichijou didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything, but Godai didn't seem to mind. Perching next to each other, they continued to look at the protestors streaming below them. Occasionally, Godai would hum a snatch of a song or chant a bit of something that was being yelled below them. He seemed to favor the bawdier chants over the tame ones.

How long later it was, Ichijou was unsure, but he was attuned enough to his companion to feel when he tensed. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Are you and your fellow officers armed?" Godai asked, his voice just loud enough to be heard over the crowd.

Ichijou's head whipped around and he wanted to deny, but… "No. It was decided that it was more dangerous to have weapons in a crowd this size."

"Five meters to the right and ten meters forward, in the blue hoodie and jeans, with the dark cardboard sign."

In the moments it took Ichijou to focus enough to find the person in question, Godai had already dropped out of the tree and was pushing through the crowd.

Ichijou muttered an imprecation and dropped down after him, nearly spraining his ankle as he pushed through the crowd right behind him. It was possible that Godai was wrong, of course, given the distance, but for some reason, Ichijou was convinced that he was right. It had just been a glimpse of something in a pocket but…

They were both trying to be subtle in their movements but they couldn't move too slowly lest they lose him in the shifting crowd. They were almost in touching distance when the target noticed them. Eyes widening, his hand reached for the pocket in question and he took two steps back and away from them, bumping into a young mother and child.

The mother's mouth opened to reprimand him as Godai made a leap forward, grabbing the man's hand and forcing it to stay in the pocket and pointed down. As if they'd practiced it for weeks, Ichijou was right behind him, grabbing the man's other arm and holding him in an iron grip. "You're under arrest," Ichijou said. "Don't even think about moving."

The man tried to jerk away and Godai apparently squeezed even tighter, because Ichijou could see the hand release what was in the pocket. People were starting to stare, so Ichijou quickly cuffed him, handing him off to Godai long enough to retrieve his badge. "Police," he said. 

That didn't seem to calm the crowd down and the prisoner thought to take advantage of that. "It's police brutality," he yelled. "My rights are being abridged."

Ichijou glared at him.

"They're probably going to beat me next!"

"Oh, don't be—" Ichijou began.

Godai smiled at the crowd beginning to form around them. "It's okay, folks. We're not here to arrest peaceful protestors."

Ichijou stifled a grin at the "we". He wasn't familiar with every officer in his home city of Nagano, let alone every officer in Tokyo, but he was quite certain that's not what Godai was. The crowd was listening, though, so he kept his mouth shut.

"We're here to make sure that those of you attending have the right to walk safely," Godai went on. "This man is *not* one of you."

Everyone started to look around them, realizing that the man was not walking with any of the nearby groups.

"Please keep walking and show the government that you mean business." Godai gave them a big thumbs-up and a smile.

There was a moment in which the crowd could have gone either way and the prisoner opened his mouth to make another plea, but an older woman stepped forward and inspected both Godai and the prisoner top to bottom before nodding. "Thank you, boys," she said to Godai and Ichijou. "Now come along," she said to the flock of young women with her. "We still have a long way to go."

Although some passersby still gave them strange looks, they allowed Ichijou and Godai to pass out of the crowd and into a side street, where Ichijou carefully removed the item that, yes, turned out to be a gun, from a pocket and placed it into an evidence bag. Then he handcuffed the prisoner to a lightpole and called in for backup. He was told to wait where he was.

Taking his first deep breath in what felt like hours, he looked at Godai. "I don't know how to thank you."

"You're welcome." Godai's grin just got broader. "I'm glad I was there to help. But you know…"

"What?"

"If you wanted to thank me…you could take me to dinner once this is over."

Ichijou opened his mouth and closed it again. Was that…did he…?

Godai nudged Ichijou's shoulder with his own. "It can just be dinner, if you like."

Ichijou blinked.

"I would be open to more, though." 

His chest felt strange and his stomach felt even funnier, which was the only explanation for why Ichijou found himself saying "We'll see after dinner."

Godai's smile was almost blinding.

\--end--

**Author's Note:**

> So the conversation about the children's book actually happened during the Women's March, when I noticed a lone squirrel running around the top of a tree in the middle of the crowd. I suggested I might write a book called "A Squirrel on the Mall" and describe the POV of squirrels that watch protests almost every week.


End file.
